BioCrisis

The BioCrisis refers to a widespread environmental crisis prior to the events of Oni. At the time of Oni, the air supply in the cities is systematically filtered and decontaminated by ACCs. We learn from Dr. Hasegawa's diary that massive contaminated areas (called "Wilderness Preserves") exist outside the cities. One of these contaminated zones is the reason for the death of Jamie Hasegawa. Drs. Hasegawa and Kerr subsequently developed the Daodan project to help humans survive an impending danger from the BioCrisis.

Facts

Class 3 and 4 toxins

Class 4 (airborne) mentioned only in the context of the hypothetical inversion process (see below).

Steady rise in class 3 pollutants mentioned in the testing protocol (improved technology).

Dioxin

A steady rise in dioxin levels is reported by the STURMANDERUNG consoles in CHAPTER 14 . DAWN OF THE CHRYSALIS.

(this is presented as a side effect of the preliminary phase of Muro's plan)

(the main phase apparently being to trigger the inversion process below)

BioCrisis Subcommittee

Quote from CHAPTER 07 . A FRIEND IN NEED

OPERATIONS MEMO TOWER SHUTDOWN Processor Tower Beta Nine will be shut down for three days prior to and following the test of the second tier backup unit as ordered by the BioCrisis Subcommittee. Operations Control is concerned that a sudden increase in demand would tax the system beyond the buffer allowed by the engineering specifications.

TOWER SHUTDOWN The new systems modifications are designed to combat the steady rise in Class 3 atmospheric pollutants but the new parts have not been tested at full capacity. The second tier test will be followed by a test of the third tier, assuming everything goes according to plan.

Inversion process

Hypothetical malfunctioning of the ACCs with dramatic consequences.

Quote from CHAPTER 07 . A FRIEND IN NEED

OPERATIONS MEMO ATMOSPHERIC INVERSION PROCESS TESTING According to our data an inversion of the primary charge couplers would effectively reverse the charge in the toxin treatment subsystems rendering the ionization process useless. As a result the Class 3 toxins we are most concerned about would pass through the system untreated. There is even a chance that the they would be charged as they passed through the coupler transforming them into Class 4 airborne toxins.

ATMOSPHERIC INVERSION PROCESS TESTING [cont] Needless to say the environmental damage in such an event would be catastrophic and irreversible. All crews must be aware of this danger and pay strict attention to the posted maintenance schedules and testing protocols.

---

Added value

What exactly is the nature of the contamination of the outside world? Is all of it equally polluted? How did the the BioCrisis come about in the first place? These questions are not specifically answered in Oni. To tackle the last question first, the original pollution, for which the ACCs were developed, might have been merely the result of mankind's current habit of polluting Earth, progressed to a point that created a crisis in terms of unsafe air, water, etc. It remains to be seen in modern times whether we are winning or losing the battle against industrial pollution, but one could postulate that if at least some of our current habitual pollution was making things worse than we thought, it might be too late to reverse some damage after it were to be noticed in the future. This is one possible explanation for the BioCrisis.

The other explanation is simply that there was a specific event such as a nuclear war or massive chemical reaction that caused the Crisis.

In either case, once the ACCs were built, people would have settled around them in cities. A BioCrisis Subcommittee was dedicated to monitoring the status of the pollution and augmenting the efficiency of the ACCs. Hasegawa's diary makes it clear that ACCs did not cover the entire inhabited earth ("The world outside the Atmospheric Processors is poisonous"). Oddly, he calls the place he and Jamie go "one of the Contaminated Zones, the dirty secrets that the government made it easy to ignore." Wouldn't the general populace be well aware of the fact that the world outside the ACCs is polluted? Surely they are.

This means that Hasegawa had learned that either (a) there were specific zones that were much worse than people realized, or (b) the entire world outside the ACCs was worse than people realized. Hasegawa does not make it clear whether the Zones were isolated areas, or whether every area outside the reach of the ACCs was this way. He simply says that he and Jamie 'left the city' that was being cleansed by an ACC.

If "a" is the case, then it is possible that highly concentrated waste produced during the ACCs' decontamination process was being improperly disposed of. This would have resulted in a highly contaminated soil ("a poisonous world") wherever that waste was disposed of. (Hasegawa's description of a typical Wilderness Preserve (for what it's worth ^_^) is reminiscent of Miyazaki's Nausicaa.)

We also get the impression that the WCG is rather complacent about cleansing the rest of the earth outside the cities. Perhaps they have been telling people that they are doing so, when in fact things are pretty dangerous out there (possibility "b"). Why is the WCG not struggling to fix the planet? The reason could be as innocuous as the fact that such cleanup work is actually too costly for anyone to perform, even a world government; the reason might be more sinister, too, such as the fact that it is easier to monitor and control a population when they bunch up in cities than when they are spread throughout the countryside.

It's interesting to note that, as far as most people know, their lives within the cities are sustainable. As long as the ACCs keep pumping out clean air, everything will be fine. Hasegawa, after losing Jamie to a Contaminated Zone, feels differently, because he says "If something isn't done we are all doomed."

The entry that we hear from his diary is unfortunately not clear on why humanity is doomed. Did Dr. Hasegawa predict that the hostile wildlife of the Wilderness Preserves would take over the cities at some point? It's hard to find another explanation as to why people couldn't just keep living in the cities where the ACCs were keeping the air clean. Perhaps the WCG is not even doing a good job at containing the Contaminated Zones.

We still have not addressed the first question this section raised, about the nature of the pollution. There are three basic possibilities as to what this pollution is:

1. Basic toxins, infusing the flora such as the plant that kills Jamie with a mere scrape on the leg.
2. Advanced biological agents such as powerful viruses, perhaps mutated by the original pollution.
3. Alien life invading our ecosphere.

If Hasegawa says humanity is "doomed", one would imagine that basic toxins could not be the explanation. The spread of toxins is easily halted by erecting contained cities such as probably already exist. Poisons do not multiply themselves, so as long as things such as runoff from polluted soil are not allowed to enter the city, then the way of life in those cities is sustainable and not at all doomed.

However, if there are virulent organisms outside the cities, they might well be in the process of invading the cities. One could simply say that they are mutated viruses and not over-analyze the matter.

The third option above may seem much more far-fetched, but there is a mention of extraterrestrial life in the description of the Screaming Cell Cannon. Where are the Screaming Cells coming from? Is it possible they are are being harvested from the Contaminated Zones? The infection that kills Jamie could well be some lifeform that is not of this earth. Any further conclusions cannot be reached from the facts that Oni gives us, leaving the rest to our imaginations to fill in.

Aftermath

"The dead and the dying" could indeed become a common sight in the cities affected by the destruction of the ACCs.

The supposed inversion didn't take place, but the now unavailable ACCs were performing a non-negligible decontamination work.

Thus, even if we're far from the "dead air and foul water" promised by Muro, "underground" life and rationing come to mind.

On the other hand, a dramatic decrease of the world's population would mean much less pollution in the years to come.

This would allow for a local or global regeneration of the biosphere (à la Ergo Proxy or Nausicaa)

In a highly hostile environment, the population is more of a burden than a source of power. It would probably be left to itself.

In one of the remaining cities, on the contrary, it can be organized into a strong community under the protection of leaders.

Ecoban or the Domes in Ergo Proxy come to mind: basically every intact city can become a utopian mini-state after Oni.

(some of this is of course off-topic here and could be developed in 12/3 or elsewhere)